Learning Chinese

The Way I Did It

I’m a white guy from the US, so I started with a blank slate w/r/t Chinese learning. I moved to Taiwan in 2010 with my wife and have been living here ever since. My first steps learning Chinese was in university in the US. I remember the first day when the teacher spoke all the pinyin pronunciations for us, hearing zhi, chi, shi and ji, qi, xi, I thought there’s no way anyone can learn this cause it all sounded the same to me. But that’s how it is when you first start learning something, it always seems hard and daunting. And when people say this or that language is hard, they tend to be speaking from the standpoint of someone who either has not started learning the language yet, or someone who’s still in the beginner stage, when a lot is thrown at you at once and everything seems impossible.

But looking back on, I’d say Chinese was fairly easy, at least compared to French or Japanese, which I have had some schooling in. Like others have said, Chinese grammar is relatively simple, it’s S-V-O just like English. There’s no conjugation, adjectives always go before the word they modify, and dependent clauses always go before independent clauses. So there’s not as much w/r/t syntax and grammar to memorize or get familiar with.

As for vocabulary and the graphs themselves, yeah it is daunting at first. But really you don’t have to memorize anything. You might need to for a class or to pass a test, but for actually learning the language, memorization is not necessary. I know because I didn’t do any rote memorization except for a few times for vocab tests when I had classes. Most of my learning came outside of class, reading on my own. As a general rule, if you use the language enough, the rest will follow. That goes for learning the tones as well, as I never really paid much attention to that. But you just kinda pick it up the more you use the language, and even reading helps with that some (at least if you subvocalize when you read).

I had two years of Chinese in university, but it was mostly just learning pinyin and some basic characters. Very rudimentary stuff, but a necessary foundation that made my later learning much easier. During this time (this was 2002-2003), I also read Dream of the Red Chamber¹ after reading about it in a Chinese & Japanese culture class. I remember the exact textbook I read about that novel in: A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations, second edition, by Conrad Schirokauer. The one with the black cover and a painting of bamboo on it. The barrage of Chinese names in pinyin in that novel was a baptism by fire for me, who was just learning pinyin in class. Really helped me get familiar with it a lot. To this day my biggest pet peeve is people writing names in pinyin incorrectly. The cdrama community does this a lot. Like if the name is Wang Shichen, they’ll write Wang Shi Chen or even worse, Wang ShiChen. Ugh.

Anyway, after those classes I didn’t have any more formal training until 2010 when I moved to Taiwan. I didn’t study Chinese at all in the interim. Actually I went throug a period of being into Japanese stuff, listening to japanese rock (Dir en grey’s my fav), reading modern Japanese novels, watching jdramas, etc. So my Chinese didn’t really improve during this period. This was also when I had Japanese classes at university.

After coming to Taiwan, I enrolled in the Chinese Language Center at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). Since I was planning to live in Taiwan permanently, I need to learn the language. But in my heart my real goal was to learn how to read Chinese so that I could read old Tang dynasty tales and other things. Because I was really into old Chinese literature, but so little of it had been translated, and much that had was inaccessible to me (cause I couldn’t find the books, many of them out of print). So I decided I’ll learn to read them myself. While I took classes at NCKU, on my own I began translating old Tang dynasty tales, using existing English translations as a crib to help me when I couldn’t understand what something meant. Which was often. I didn’t know that there was Literay Chinese (aka Classical Chinese) and vernacular Chinese, and that Tang dynasty tales were written in Literary Chinese. Later after I’d translated some I learned of this and found vernacular translations of them and wow was that easier. I translated the entire anthology Legends of Sword Xia²《劍俠傳》which is a short anthology of 33 stories of Tang and Song xia tales. I also did a paintstaking translation of the older story “Prince Dan of Yan“〈燕丹子〉, using a Literary Chinese textbook³ to help me understand the words. I remember it took a full week of translating literally all day long to finish that.

My other goal with learning Chinese was to be able to just pick up a book and read it, without needing to keep checking a dictionary to get through it. And what I wanted to be able to read was wuxia novels. When I first came to Taiwan I went to secondhand stores with my wife looking for wuxia novels. I had gotten acquainted with wuxia on spcnet and wuxiasociety forums. The latter focused more on Gu Long and also talked about other authors. There was one thread there I remember was pictures of wuxia authors, and Wolong Sheng, Cang Yue, Shi Weihan, etc. were some of them. The little I learned about Wolong Sheng made me aware that the wuxia genre was larger than just Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, Wen Rui’an (who I learned about through Wuxiapedia, y’all remember that site?), and Huang Yi. But there wasn’t much information on anyone else, so when I goto to Taiwan I wanted to find other wuxia authors and learn about them. In particular, Wolong Sheng.

Top: Cold Sword, Frost; Bottom: Tale of the Ancient Sword and Regretful Love

I remember I went to two bookstores that day (and I think each of them is still operating today, though most secondhand bookstores have shut down and/or moved online). From one I bought a Yun Zhongyue 雲中岳 novel called《古劍懺情記》(Tale of the Ancient Sword and Regretful Love), and from the other store I got a book with Wolong Sheng’s name on it called《寒劍‧霜》(Cold Sword, Frost). At the time I didn’t know how messy the wuxia fiction publishing world was, how many novels were fraudulently (or with permission) published under someone else’s name. Turns out, most likely, that the Wolong Sheng novel was actually written by someone else, given the writing style. Though oddly, it has a color photograph of the author on the back that I have never seen anywhere else.

Back then my Chinese was still very bad and I couldn’t really read these novels yet. When I went looking for books I was just looking for the word “sword” 劍. I figured if it had sword in the title then it might just be a wuxia novel. I remember at the same store I bought the Yun Zhongyue novel I actually bought another novel too which I can’t remember the name of, but flipping through it at home I wasn’t sure if it was actually wuxia or not, so I returned it. To date, I have yet to read the Wolong Sheng novel, because I quickly learned through searching online that it was likely not written by him. The Yun Zhongyue novel I tried reading, but I didn’t get very far before giving up. Years later I picked it up again and read it, and it’s a very good novel.

Though I have bought two novels to read, what I was actually reading was online text pasted into the softward Wenlin, which is a word processor + Chinese-English dictionary. You can mouseover the words and see the deifnitions at the bottom. It uses the ABC Chinese-English dictionary by John DeFrancis. This was the best C-E dictionary before Paul W. Kroll’s A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese came out years later. That latter one now is by far the best C-E dictionary there is. I still use Wenlin to this day when I translate. I blow the words up big so they don’t strain my eyes, and have it one one side of the screen and Scrivener open on the other side, and that’s how I translate. That’s how I’ve been doing it since 2014. I also use Pleco with a bunch of dictionaries loaded onto it, including Kroll’s. But also some Chinese language dictionaries. The more the better. I have a Cantonese dictionary on there as well which has really helped a lot, not just for alternate English translations, but it helps immensely with translating Hong Kong authors such as Long Chengfeng, Ximen Ding, and Huang Ying.

Back then though, I was trying to read a Dugu Hong novel called《血花‧血花》(Bloody Flower, Bloody Flower). I picked it because by that time I had bought more wuxia novels, and this was one of the shorter ones. I ended up reading the first half of it. I recall it had a protagonist who was sick like Li Xunhuan from Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword. It was a decent novel, what I remember of it. Has a rather melancholy tone to it. But reading that was torture. Those days were when I was really grinding. That’s when my foundation was solidified. I wasn’t working at the time, just going to Chinese classes at NCKU, so I had time to read. I would read for hours, pasting the chapters into Wenlin and mousing over for definitions, struggling to make sense of the sentences. When I was really stumped I would ask my wife. Sometimes her explanations helped, sometimes not. Though I discovered that you eventually will figure it out. One time there was some syntax that I didn’t understand, I can’t remember what it is. Maybe how 將 or 所 was used, something like that. I don’t recall. But every time a sentence was written that way I just couldn’t understand it. One day I was reading and came upon it and for whatever reason, the sentence made sense to me. My wife had explained it before but I still couldn’t get it. But this time I did. And from then on I understood it. I can’t explain why, but it’s happened other times since then. If you stick with it, eventually it will make sense, you will get it. In those days, though, it would take me hours to read just a few paragraphs. But, I was really interesed in wuxia and was interested in the Chinese language, so it was still enjoyable to do. I think that helps a lot. If you’re just learning because you need to but aren’t really into it, you will likely have a tougher time of it. It’s hard to spend hours frustrated, feeling like you’re not making any progress (you actually are though) if you’re not really interested in what you’re doing.

That’s why I think it’s best when learning a language to read something you’re interested in. I don’ subscribe to the notion of reading children’s books first. I say start with whatever it is you want to be able to read. Yeah, it’s a struggle, but you have to go through it eventually, might as well get the frustrating part over with. Eventually is does get easier, though language learning is an ongoing process. You never really “master” it, you just get better at realizing how much you have left to learn. I’m not exaggerating even a little bit when I say that I use Pleco every single day and have for years, ever since I started using it. Whether I’m translating or not, I still look stuff up all the time, even words I already know. I have OCD and that might play a part in that, I don’t know. But you can never be too sure. Also you’ll learn that dictionaries make mistakes too (they’re written by people after all).

I reached my goal of being able to pick up a book and read it in 2014. First was the literary novel《沈默之島》(Island of Silence) by Su Wei-chen. It has been translated into Engish by Jeremy Tiang, though I don’t know if it was out at the time. I didn’t know about it anyway. I had Su Wei-chen as a professor at NCKU in grad school in 2014 as well. She was teaching a class on Eileen Chang. Later that year I read Wolong Sheng’s wuxia novel《天香飈》(Heavenly Whirlwind). I spent three weeks reading it, and I annotated it as I read, pointing out foreshadowing and thoughts I had as I was reading. I also wrote a summary of each chapter, which I have since published. That’s a great wuxia novel. IMO Wolong Sheng writes hypocritical characters better than Jin Yong.

My Heavenly Whirlwind annotations

Before 2014 I had a short-lived wuxia forum of my own called Among Rivers and Lakes. It lasted about a year and then shut down because I couldn’t afford hosting anymore. I had some translations on there, mostly short stories and some snippets of other novels. I started translating on spcnet as well, first with a Yun Zhongyue novel, then a Sima Ling novel. Neither got much attention. Actually, nothing I’ve translated had received much attention; it seems the English wuxia community is really more just a Jin Yong fanclub, for the most part. Even on volare novels, a large site in 2017, translating an officially licensed translation of a Yun Zhongyue novel, it was mostly crickets.

But I still keep translating because I like it. I originally started translating to learn Chinese. Now I continue to improve it, and to further develop my wuxia terminology lexicon. I’ve spent many many hours researching terms, concepts, thinking about how to translate stuff. Like learning a language, it’s a neverending process. Once you think you’re satisfied with a way to translate something you end up changing your mind. Once you think you’ve mastered translating fight scenes, you translate a new author and have to start all over again because they write them differenty. Translaing Yun Zhongyue, who quickly became my favorite wuxia author, was another baptism by fire. He came from a martial arts background and was an instructor in the military, so he knew what he was talking about, and his fight scenes are detailed. He also wrote historical details such as the geography of a place, local customs, etc., mostly centered on the Ming dynasty. His level of detail makes the world feel real, feel “lived-in”, but it can be hell to translate. When you’re reading you can go along and understand it without understanding every single word, but when you translate you have to know what every single word means. I’ve been translating more of his work on my own recently (not published) and even though I got used to translating him years ago, it’s still a challenge at times.

But I’m fluent now. I use the language a lot, and that’s the key. My reading is strong because I read a lot, and I research a lot, be it Daoism, Tang or Ming history, whatever. I do that because I love that stuff so it’s not work. It’s just my hobby. I’ve gotten into Chinese poetry, even writing some of my own in Chinese. I had Literay Chinese tutoring at NCKU years back, reading excerpts from Zuozhuan,⁴ Han Yu, and others. Learning Classical Chinese helped sooooo much. I recommend every Chinese language learner learn Classical as well. It makes learning modern Chinese so much easier. You just have a better understanding of how the language works. Also, the writing is so good. I actually like it better than modern Chinese writing. So much many delivered so concisely.

Is Chinese difficult? I mean, yeah, in the same way any language is difficult to learn. But whether it’s harder than some other language, I don’t know. I grew up with English so I can’t really say how hard that is, and French and Japanese I never went beyond a high beginner level. Some of it comes down to natural aptitude. Some people pick up on things quicker and easier than others. But mostly it comes down to how much time and effort you put into it. It takes work, and there are no shortcuts. I loved doing it because I love languages and I love wuxia, so though it was frustrating (and sometimes still is) at times, I never saw it as work. That makes a big difference. I also had a good foundation through classes, first at university in the US, then in Taiwan. I was a lazy student and only did the assigned homework, but on my own I was reading wuxia novels and practicing translating. That was where the bulk of my progress happened. Using the language. And I’ll tell you, even reading will improve your speaking. Not as well as actually speaking, but it does help. Because I’m an introvert and don’t talk much anyway, yet I managed to become fluent speaking.

When it comes to language learnng, and I’ll confine this to Chinese since that’s all I’m good at, I think there are a few common hindrances that hold people back. This is just one person’s opinion of course and is not the only way, but I did achieve my goals so I think there’s some weight behind what I have to say on this:

Not using good study/learning methods. I’m not a fan of flashcards or other SRS apps like Anki or whatever. They are useful in a limited context when you’re starting out. Cause as a beginner you have a lot thrown at you at once, so “learning” characters through SRS is useful. And it helps when cramming for a vocab test. But as you progress there comes a point when flashcards are useless, imo. Because flipping through your Anki deck is not learning words. You don’t really know a word until you can understand it in the context of sentences and paragraphs. Then you know the word. A lot of people spend too much time only flipping through Anki and thinking they are studying. But that’s like trying to learn to play piano by running through some scales a few times and calling it a day. You’ll never learn how to play Für Elise, though, until you sit down and start playing Für Elise. If you want to be able to read Chinese, you have to read Chinese. Flashcards don’t cut it. At some point, every minute you spend flipping through Anki would be better spend reading something. A book, newpaper, online article, whatever you’re interested in.

There’s also too much emphasis placed on HSK tests, and other such certifications. Those are useful if you need it, like if you have to have a certification to apply for a job or to get into a university or something. Otherwise, imo they are a waste of money because they don’t really reflect your real ability. It won’t hurt you to study for those tests. But it will hurt if you aren’t also spending time using the language.

Studying stuff that’s too easy. People talk about graded readers or reading chilren’s books, and that stuff is okay. But, if your study session was painless, if it was a breeze, then you didn’t learn much new that day. Because it will only be a breeze if it’s stuff you already know. It is useful to review what you already know, but you need to be doing more than that. Frustration is a sign of improvement, it’s how you know you’re making progress, because you’re encountering stuff you can’t do or don’t understand yet. It’s a better use of time to study stuff that is beyond your current level.

Not spending enough time studying. Flipping through flashcards, Anki, etc. is easy. You can’t fail at it. If you don’t know a word, no worries, it’ll come back around again. But doing a session of that and calling it a day is not going to cut it. You have to put the time in if you want anything out of it. It’s understandable that you’re busy and don’t have much time, whatever, but it doesn’t change reality. Which is you have to put the time in. Meaning you have to make time, somehow. There’s no way around it.

Quitting. This one’s obvious, but it’s the number-one reason people fail to learn a skill. They quit. If you don’t stick with it you won’t succeed.

As a final thought, taking classes really help. If there’s anyway you can get a qualified person to teach you, then do it. You can learn on your own, but you’ll be at a serious disadvantage for one simple reason: you are going to make mistakes that you do not know are mistakes. And so you need a qualified person who can point these mistakes out to you so you can correct them. If you’re on your own you won’t have anyone pointing them out, so improving will be tougher and your foundation will not be as solid. Above all though, use the language. That means reading books, articles, whatever, it means talking to people, watching shows and movies and reading along to Chinese subtitles or even just listening to the actors speak Chinese along with whatever language subtitles you need to help, it means practicing writing. Words at first, later writing your own sentences. You can do that online pretty easily. Though to be honest, the need to actually write by hand is limited nowadays. There’s still paperwork that requires it, but if you won’t need to do that, then typing is fine. Depends on your goals.

What isn’t using the language? Cloze tests (fill in the blank), flashcards, memorizing words or phrases, test where you have to pick A,B,C etc. These things have their uses, but they should be secondary to actually using the language, because you will improve much more and much faster actually using the language.

Also, when it comes to reading material, you need to use natural material as much as possible. That means text that was written by Chinese users for Chinese users. Novels, newspapers, graded readers that use excerpts of real texts, etc. Articial material, for lack of a better term, is for example a textbook where someone made up some sentences, paragraphs, etc., to help the learner. They might be made up intentionally to use certain words or phrases to go with a lesson. They have their uses, but this isn’t natural language. It’s not how real people really use the language, so it’s best to use material that real people actually use. That way you won’t end up with a stilted command of the language, “textbook language”. Ever heard someone say “oh that’s technically correct, it’s grammatically correct, but no one ever says it like that”? That’s textbook language.

Somewhat related to that, I’ve heard people say that you shouldn’t say 你好 because Chinese people don’t actually say that, and that you should say 吃飽了嗎 (have you eaten yet) instead. Maybe that is true in some regions of the world, as different areas have different customs, I don’t know. But for Taiwan anyway, that’s bullshit. I hear ni hao literally every single day, and not just people saying it to me, a foreigner, but to everyone. In fact, the only time I hear “have you eaten yet” is with older family members speaking to other family members. I’m not saying others never say that, I’m just saying ni hao is very fucking common here. I always wanted an excuse to make this correction, because I remember hearing that advice a lot.

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1. It was the red four-volume box set published by Foreign Language Press under the title A Dream of Red Mansions, translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang.

2. Not yet published.

3. The book was A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese by Paul F. Rouzer.

4. There’s a complete English translation of this called Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan左傳 : Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals translated by Translated by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li and David Schaberg.